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Schools' Round Up - Sat 4th Feb

6 February 2012 09:57am

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Round up of schools action from the past weekend...

Cambridge House hosted Wellington College in the third round of the Schools' Cup, with both side vying to meet banbridge Academy in round 4. The home side started the game strongly dominating all aspects of play in the opening exchanges. They went 3-0 ahead when Timmy Small converted a penalty opportunity following a Wellington College infringement at a ruck.

After 25 minutes, the Cambridge House pressure was eventually rewarded. Timmy Small made the initial break and, following good work from his forwards, linked with his brother, Philip who crashed over for a try. The try was not converted but the Cambridge House team had a comfortable 8-0 lead, and the score remained at that until half time.

The Cambridge House team, with Ryan Uprichard in outstanding form, continued to dominate the early stages of the second half. Wellington College lost their influential outhalf Adam Webb to a recurring shoulder problem but did manage to reduce the arrears to 8-3 when David Marshall converted a penalty opportunity.

Cambridge House then scored an unconverted try through Ryan Upritchard to build a 13-3 lead. The Wellington College team lost the influential Josh Garnham and James Hayes to injury and were unfortunate not to score a try when the ball was dropped with the line at their mercy.

Despite valiant effort from players such as Owen Jarvie and David Marshall, the visitors had no further opportunity to score and it was Cambridge House that celebrated their deserved 13-3 win at the final whistle. They will now play Banbridge Academy in the fourth round of the Schools' Cup on Saturday 11th February.

With the fourth round games of the Northern Bank Ulster Schools' Cup due to be played on Saturday 11th February, a number of fixtures scheduled for Saturday 4th were cancelled. Some schools wanted to give players returning from injury a weekend off, while others wanted to fine tune their preparations for the forthcoming games in the Northern Bank Ulster Schools' Cup, Bowl and Trophy competitions.

Four games did take place with the closest encounter of the morning, involving RS Dungannon and Ballymena Academy, taking place on the WK Armstrong pitch in Dungannon.

Ballymena Academy opened the scoring when Darren Geddis slotted a penalty in the 10th minute to give his team a 3-0 lead. The RS Dungannon team then enjoyed an extended period of possession which culminated in their left winger Peter Cashel chipping into space behind the Ballymena defence and winning the foot race to touch down for a fine individual try.

The score stayed 5-3 in favour of the home team until just before the break when Darren Geddis was successful with his second penalty of the morning to give the Ballymena Academy team a 6-5 interval lead.

Ballymena Academy extended their lead to 9-5 midway through the second half with another Darren Geddis penalty. The game remained finely poised until the last few minutes when Ballymena Academy's scrum half, Jack Fleming, broke clear and showed excellent pace to finish in the corner. The conversion attempt was unsuccessful but the Ballymena Academy team had recorded a hard earned 14-5 victory.

Andrew Clingan, Mark Wright and Stephen Rodgers worked hard in defence for the RS Dungannon team while Matthew Rea, George Hargy and Sam McNabney all impressed for the visitors.

Royal School Armagh travelled to play Omagh Academy and despite a spirited performance from the home side, managed to control both possession and territory for long periods of time.

Stuart Hooks opened the scoring for the RS Armagh team with an excellent individual try before Matthew Clarke got in on the act. Shortly after this the RS Armagh wingers, Daniel Ewart and Daniel Reaney touched down for one try each. Alistair Wright added two conversions to take the RS Armagh tally to 24 points.

In response the home team, on rare visits into the opposition 22m area, had Greg Deazley to thank for converting two penalty opportunities. With the halftime score reading 24-6 in favour of the RS Armagh team, both teams decided to make use of their extended squad players.

These players all made a good impression but there were no further scores in the course of the second half. Both teams were pleased to get a game in preparation for important Cup and Trophy games next weekend.

Foyle and Londonderry College recovered from the disappointment of their Schools' Cup defeat by Banbridge Academy to overcome the spirited resistance provided by Belfast High School when the two sides met in the Maiden City.

The Foyle College team started strongly and got rewarded for their early endeavours when Jordan Cairns took advantage of good work from his pack to touch down for the first try of the game after fifteen minutes. Neil Burns added the conversion to put his team into a 7-0 lead.

Belfast High School responded positively to this setback and, from the restart, took play deep into Foyle territory. Good work from the High School pack presented the opportunity for Scott Shaw to rumble over for a try. The conversion was missed but the Belfast High School team had reduced the arrears to 7-5.

In the final quarter of the first half the Foyle team scored a try through Ryan Curry which was converted by Neil Burns to extend the Foyle lead to 14-5. The Belfast HS responded immediately with an unconverted try from Robbie Reid to take the score to 14-10.

On the stroke of halftime, Neil Burns successfully converted a penalty opportunity to give his team a 17-10 lead at the interval.

Foyle College team continued in the second half where they had finished the first half by pressurising the Belfast High School defence. Kyle Henderson scored a try which Neil Burns converted to give the home team a 24-10 lead. Neil Burns then sealed the game with another successful penalty kick to ensure a Foyle College win by 27-10.

Portadown College travelled to play Friends' School and they controlled the game from start to finish. The Friends' School team had no answer to the attacking play from the Portadown backline, led ably by David Busby, who scored a hat-trick of tries.

From start to finish, the College team dominated the play, starving the young Friends side of any possession and creating phase after phase of play, ultimately ending with a penetrating run from one of the College backline.

All in all, Portadown scored eight tries ably helped by the boot of Michael Busby who converted six as well as adding a penalty. This performance helped considerably to lift the spirits of the Portadown College squad following their Cup exit last week and sets them up for the tricky tie with Down High next week in the Northern Bank Ulster Schools' Bowl.

Noticeable performances came from Scott Jameson, Ross Purvis, Andrew Richardson, Michael Busby and Andrew Steele. While the Friends' School team lost heavily they can take some comfort from the performances of players such as Ross Robinson, Daniel Bell and, in particular, Dean Howes.

Wallace High School and Bangor Grammar School played out a series of controlled game situations which both players and coaches found useful as they finalise their preparations for their Northern Bank Ulster Schools' Cup games next weekend.

There were seven Northern Bank Ulster Schools' Medallion Shield Round 4 games played on Saturday 4th February. The results were as follows:-